You Get What You Pay For

I signed up for Black Bucket Brew the other day.  I'm not sure how I found it, and I'm still not sure what it is.  It describes itself as "an e-zine for lovers of craft beer & home brew", and perhaps that's accurate.  It's a mishmash of shopping links, basic information about craft beer and homebrewing, and the like.

I signed up primarily because they offered a free e-book, called 10 Tips: How to Enjoy Your Beer Even More!.  It's written by David Ivey, who appears to be the guy in charge of Black Bucket Brew.  On the upside, he grants people the right to distribute the booklet freely (though he asks that links remain intact, which is reasonable).  On the downside, there's not much in here that can't be found easily in a hundred other places.  All-in-all, though, it's not a bad primer to beer appreciation/judging for a complete novice--but it's not that good, either.

• Tip #1: Appearance.  Basically, he says to pour it into a glass.  Important, yes; but pretty damn basic, and a cop-out considering appearance is so important to a quality brew.  Maybe the title of the tip is a problem, but you could give some tips about pouring it into a glass, like the importance of a clean glass (dirty glasses can trap carbonation and inhibit head formation) and getting all the soap off (again, inhibits head).  Even better, wash it again without soap.  He could also talk about glassware if he's not actually going to talk about appearance (and pouring it into a glass is about so much more than appearance).
• Tip #2: Clean Glass.  Ah, here it is: the importance of a clean glass.  He talks about how to clean a beer without leaving soapy residue, but it feels like he's splitting hairs to get to 10 tips.  By the way, you can tell that a beer hasn't been cleaned properly if carbonation clings to the inside of the glass or the lacing is uneven.
• Tip #3: Beer Glasses.  Here he talks about the importance of using proper glassware.  If his audience needs to be told that they should pour it into a glass instead of drinking out of the bottle expecting them to use special glassware may be a bit of a stretch--most beers can be adequately enjoyed out of a standard beer mug or a pint glass (although yes, proper glassware will enhance it).  His description of glass styles also lacks.  He describes a pint glass as the best all-around glass, but really it's just a good standard size, easy to clean and stack at a bar.  Moving on to a weizen glass, he claims that the flare at the bottom is to "capture yeast"--but traditionally, if you're going to drink it "mit hefe" (with yeast), you pour out 90% of the beer, then swirl it to get the yeast in suspension, and pour that on top (this only works with bottle-conditioned beers, by the way).  He also calls "BudMillerCoors" pilsners--which is flat-out wrong.  They are part of the Light Lager category, at least according to the BJCP.  Pilsners are an entirely different category of beer (they are both lagers).
• Tip #4: Serving Temperature.
• Tip #5: Pouring a Nice Head.
• Tip #6: Beer Color.  There's a lot more to say about beer color than he does.  I'd like to see at least a basic explanation of how the malt used contributes to beer color, and for bonus points talk about caramelization.  Truth be told, though, he should just talk about appearance overall, including carbonation, head, and clarity.
• Tip #7: Clarity.  Ah, here it is.  It's just been stretched into another tip.  Perhaps we can hold our breath for carbonation and head?  Some decent info here.
• Tip #8: Aroma.  Alas, my hopes for finishing up appearance, in suspense since Tip #1, are not to be.  Wait, we're 8 tips into 10 and we're just now getting to aroma?  Are you sure we needed separate tips for "Pour It Into A Glass" and "Make Sure It's Clean First" (which are sort of backwards anyway, if you think about it).  Sadly, for something so important to appreciating a quality beer, the information here is superficial at best.
• Tip #9: Taste.  Decent info here.  A couple of paragraphs just isn't enough for any meaningful discussion of flavor, though.  The tip ends with a mention that they'll talk about flavor in the future, and a link to sign up for their newsletters.
• Tip #10: Mouthfeel.  Includes a mention of nitrogen ("nitro") as well as carbon dioxide, and their explanation contained info that was new to me.  Good show.
• Bonus!  Tip #11: Finish.  Maybe if you all hadn't stretched your tips you would be able to count to 10.  Or perhaps that was the point.  At any rate, finish is more properly considered part of taste and mouthfeel.  Oh, and another request to sign up for their newsletter.

All in all it's not a bad little booklet, although there are numerous places the information is lacking or flat-out wrong.  But it's really more a guide to beer evaluation than appreciation, and a flawed one at that.  Five of the ten (sorry, eleven) tips are on appearance, which is worth a whopping 3 out of 50 points when evaluating a beer, according to the BJCP.  Mouthfeel is worth more than that (although he does stretch that into a tip-and-a-half).

If I were to write a guide to beer appreciation for newcomers, I think I'd start with a broad overview of beer--talk about the basic ingredients and how they affect the final product.  Perhaps move into a discussion of styles: nothing too deep, but explain the difference between an ale and a lager, and talk about a pale ale/IPA vs. a porter or a stout vs. a wheat beer, etc.  Throw in a little information about some less-common styles like the variety of Belgians out there.  Talk about some common trends--how American versions of beers tend to be hoppier and less malty; or how rye is big right now.

If I were writing a guide to beer evaluation, I'd start with the BJCP guidelines, walk them through a scoring sheet, and encourage them to actually record their impressions.  Of course, it would be even better if I was a BJCP judge, but I suppose a disclaimer would be sufficient.  I don't see any disclaimers from the authori of this tract.

In this case at least, you get what you pay for.